Episode 161 - Tale of the Osaka Idol
is the 161st episode of Aikatsu! TV anime series and the 9th episode of its ||lit. "Fourth Year"}}. The episode aired on November 26, 2015. Story The next location of the "Luminas☆Japan Tour" will be held in Osaka! At the location, the unit Akari Ōzora is in, Luminas will be coming across Nina Dōjima, who attends Naniwa World's No. 1 Academy, the Comedy School Osaka is so proud of. Nina whose head features bear ears that acts as her trademark is a cute and intense character...! Summary Luminas passes by Mount Fuji on their way to Osaka. They chat about the idols they met so far, sure that they will get to meet another while here. Walking somewhere in Osaka is a young girl. She thinks over various calculations when a few high school girls notice her. After a moment, she quickly responds to them with one of her usual amusing quirks. The girls arrive shortly after and begin to observe a few things. Akari grabs some takoyaki and they sit down, with Hinaki noting an Idol Event coming up; an Idol Comedy event from the renowned comedy school, Naniwa Grand Academy. She recognizes Nina and they decide to check out the event, heading to the stage where it will be taking place. They see a huge ground and when a man notices them there, he informs Nina that they showed up. Nina is excited that Luminas took the time to see her show and she promises to work even harder than usual. Another man then informs her its time to start and Nina is called to the stage. As she heads up, Nina intentionally decides to trip herself on the last step - realizing this would be her best plan to get laughs. However, her plan fails after her trip winds up being a bit too real and everyone worries about her getting hurt. She quickly tries to calm the audience and stands up again while playing it off. She starts her show and assures them she's fine and they seem to respond positively. Nina introduces herself to everyone and she puts on a stage show with a variety of props and items. Akari narrates, saying that Nina was very funny. After the show the girls sit at a cafe table nearby. They admit that it was so funny, they would have fun trying it too, when Nina stops by to join them. After Hinaki remarks that Nina seems different off of the stage, Akari seems to note her lack of an accent. Nina admits she only just moved to Osaka, and for a long time she had made plans to attend Starlight Academy. But when she realized her goal as an Idol was to make people laugh, she knew Osaka would be the best decision. Every day she practices and aims to get as many laughs as possible, and gets into a complicated explanation about how calculations play a big key in comedy. Having never looked at it like this before, the girls seem to be impressed with this. She goes on to explain how her passion for comedy started. Back in elementary school she was a girl who took her work very seriously, which looking back on it - is probably why she takes a sabermetric approach to comedy now. She points out that both her "sproingy ears" and her "ya know" tick are both from the several calculations she has done, as they have proven to be the most effective things people respond to. This seems to be correct after a little girl spots her and approaches to say hi to her. After Nina greets her, her and her mother take off, and Luminas remark on this. With that, Nina invites them to check out the school and they accept. On the way over, the four girls chat about how often now, comedian schools are becoming more common these days. She also discusses the importance of having a strong presence on variety shows for Idols. Which is why they also feature Idol activities lately. The girls recall that Nina has a point, and they soon arrive. They head inside and observe the several girls in the building, noting how active it seems. Nina leads them to the Idol area of the school, showing them a dance lesson currently going on. They note how normal it seems, then watch as they practice their singing with the use of AiKara. Nina continues to lead them down the hallway, preparing to show them the comedy section of school. But they seem to be fairly shocked and confused at first to see how much training they go through; including letting metal basins fall on your head, and swatting a thick figure with the back of the hand. As the girls observe Nina, they see that she is really passionate for her activities as an Idol-Comedian, and they soon grow to respect the uniqueness of her training. Nina confirms that her hand is alright, and she momentarily gets distracted. The girls comment on how different Nina is than on the stage again, and she apologizes for having spent too much time training to allow them to visit the rest of the school. The girls don't seem to mind much though, since seeing her passion encouraged them greatly. She asks if she can come to see them to perform that evening and they agree to it. That evening the girls share a quick chat before they change into their Unit Coords and appear on stage to perform Let's Aikatsu!. Afterwards, they stand backstage with Nina complimenting their wonderful job. She seems distracted for a moment again, and this time it doesn't go unnoticed. Nina mentions that while they were able to return some of the power back to her with their performance, but she felt that she has also regained her childhood smile. When noticing their confusion Nina resumes her story from before, saying that she never had a real smile until the day she decided she wanted to become a comedian. She was always serious whenever she studied, but because she was used to it she didn't think anything of it. But every once in a while, she would realize a strange, unusual smile on her face that came from watching idols or funny comedians. She would surprise herself, and eventually it drove her to the decision of making others smile as much as she could. However, she admits that she tenses up whenever she trains alone, so being with Luminas helped her stay calm and she is sure she could stay natural, for herself and the fans. She also asks that they come to see her performance, to show them this. The girls agree and Nina thanks them. Eventually her performance arrives and the girls join the crowd while Nina stands backstage. She decides to trust her instincts rather than her calculations, realizing that they weren't what led to her befriending and meeting Luminas. She changes into her coord and appears on stage to perform Miel Miere. After the performance, the girls compliment how well Nina performed. Characters *Nina Dōjima *Akari Ōzora *Sumire Hikami *Hinaki Shinjō Trivia *Miel Miere is performed for the first time in this episode. *The Fluffy Monster Coord makes its anime debut. Gallery Category:Season Four Category:Anime Category:Episodes